BREAKING: DHS announces deportation moratorium — it begins on Friday.
Obviously, the key sentence here is 'certain noncitizens' --- how that is defined is ultimately the most important part of figuring out how expansive this moratorium is.
NEW: Here is who the moratorium DOES NOT apply to:
The memo states that the 100-day pause applies to to all noncitizens with final deportation orders except those who have engaged in a suspected act of terrorism, people not in the US before Nov. 1, 2020, or those who have voluntarily agreed to waive any right to remain in the US.
There is also an exception for individuals who the acting director of ICE determines should be deported. The memo did not immediately address those in ICE detention.
NEW: DHS announces that effective Thursday it "cease adding individuals into the" Remain in Mexico (or MPP) Program.
"All current MPP participants should remain where they are, pending further official information from U.S. government officials."
COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in place, officials say.
Immigration courts have suspended Remain In Mexico processing since this summer so people who have been placed into the program recently have been waiting in Mexico without any idea of when their court date will take place.
NEW: Acting DHS Pekoske just informed staff of the new acting heads of key DHS components
They are:
Customs and Border Protection, Troy Miller
ICE, Tae Johnson,
DHS Civil Rights, Katherine Culliton-Gonzalez
USCIS, Tracy Renaud
DHS Office of Public Affairs, Tammy Howard
Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans: Kelli Ann-Burriesci (taking over for Chad Wolf)
Office of Intelligence and Analysis: Melissa Smislova
The DHS OIG remains Joseph Cuffari
The DHS General Counsel is now Joseph Maher, taking over Stephen Miller ally Chad Mizelle
NEW: DHS sent Capitol Hill the unusual agreements it signed with local jurisdictions apparently aimed at undercutting Biden's immigration goals.
They confirmed the agreements we reported on & others w/ the states of Texas, Montana, Alabama, West Virginia, and South Carolina.
More on what it these agreements say. They are all nearly identical and appear aimed at providing these localities with standing to SUE in federal court once Biden moves forward with his immigration changes.
Experts have questioned the legality of these agreements, which are very unusual (the experts were very confused and had never heard of this type of thing before).
NEW: US officials admitted in court that they violated a judge’s order when 32 immigrant children were expelled to Guatemala, adding that they will begin the process of getting the group back.
BuzzFeed News first revealed the flight's existence in Nov.
The offer to return the group to the US is a dramatic turn in a months-long saga over the Nov. 18 flight to Guatemala, which occurred shortly after US Judge Sullivan blocked the Trump administration from turning back unaccompanied children immediately.
An ICE deportation official, Evan Katz, confirmed in the filing that the agency had sought Guatemalan approval to return most of the children to the US, many of whom re-boarded the plane as part of the process.
Brutal report authored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff on the Trump administration’s safe-third country deals:
“The White House and DHS used coercive tactics to compel the governments of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to sign the ACAs”
“Since implementation of the first ACA began over one year ago, not one of the 945 asylum seekers transferred from the United States to Guatemala has been granted asylum.”
In 2019, we wrote about how days before the agreement with Guatemala was implemented DHS was still scrambling to figure out critical details, including how those seeking protection would obtain shelter, food, and access to orientation services.